


Crayola -on pause-

by harryandlouisandpuppies



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: 18-Year-Old Harry, 20-Year-Old Louis, Alternate Universe, Birthday Party, Cupcakes, Fluff, M/M, Rainbows, SO MUCH FLUFF, big brother Louis, harry works in a bakery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2015-04-10
Packaged: 2018-03-04 07:03:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2956817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harryandlouisandpuppies/pseuds/harryandlouisandpuppies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis needs 100 rainbow cupcakes and Harry works in a bakery</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> the British school system confuses the fuck out of me, I've tried to understand it, I've googled it and stuff but all the terms and shit confuse me so I just went with American school system

Bloody hell. 

The twins are turning ten and their birthday party theme is unicorns. Fucking unicorns. And with unicorns comes rainbows. Lots and lots of fucking rainbows. And being the fantastic big brother Louis was, his mum put him on decoration duty. Charlotte was handling food, Félicité was taking care of activities and mum was on Doris and Ernest duty. The party is in two days and Lottie waited till now to make the cupcakes and cake. She had a couple of her friends over and they were all baking and the kitchen was a mess, Louis still had to get balloons and make the signs and hang up streamers at the place they rented out to host the party. He had so much to do. He groaned and fell back on his bed, so much to do, so little time. He heard a loud crash from down stairs and a bunch of screaming and squealing and curses. He closed his eyes and took deep breathes, hoping for the best.

"Fuck! Shit, Louis!" he groaned again, rolling off his bed to go see what happened now. Walking down the stairs he mentally prepared himself to see half the kitchen up in flames, but instead he just walked in on probably a hundred black cupcakes all over the floor. "Louis I'm so sorry! We forgot about the cupcakes and then I burnt myself and everything fell and I'm so, so sorry Lou!" Lottie was close to tears, sitting in a chair, one of her friends holding her hand and another looking through the first aid kit.

"Fuck, Lotts, you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, we're handling this-"

"My mums a nurse, I know how to treat a little burn" Her friend spoke up, Louis nodded, a little more at ease 

"Can you please order the cupcakes? Buy them or something? We have so much we still have to make, we don't have time, I'm so sorry Lou" with a long, deep sigh Louis nodded. He checked his phone for the time, 5:08 pm, slipped on a pair of vans and headed out the door. 

He used his phone to search for the closest bakery, made a stop at a craft store and then drove to the bakery, called Little Nina's Cinnamon. When he walked through the door he was happy to see that aside from a woman in the corner fixated on her laptop, the place was empty. He walked up to the counter where a boy with long loose brown curls stood, texting away on his phone. "Um, excuse me" apparently he startled the poor lad, he nearly jumped out of his skin and his phone went flying, he looked up, or down rather as he was a bit taller, at Louis with big wide green doe eyes, his pretty pink lips in a perfect 'o' form. Louis couldn't help but smirk. He was fucking adorable. 

"Oh my, s-sorry oh" he stuttered. Deep slow voice.

"Not your fault love, sorry for startling you, just wanna make an order"

"Yeah, course, what can I help ya with?" he asked grabbing a pen and note pad. Louis' eyes raked his chest for a name tag but it seemed to be missing. 

"I need 100 rainbow cupcakes... By tonight" he winced at the last part a waited for the cute quirky boy to turn him away. His charming green eyes bulged out of their sockets and his jaw dropped to the floor. Even the lady stopped typing for a moment to lower her glasses and look at Louis. Yeah. "Please" Louis pleaded

"Uh - um y-yeah okay I - uhh, I'll uh um go get s-started" And Louis could breathe again

"Oh thank you so fucking much holy shit" he ran a hand through his hair "What's your name?"

"H-Harry" Harry. Harry, Harry, Harry. Louis liked it and thought it suited the boy amazingly.

"Okay Harry. I'm Louis, um, if you need any help I'm free and willing?" he smiled a tiny bit

"I'll keep that in mind" Harry smiled back

"I'm just gonna go get some stuff and I'll be back" They nodded at each other and Harry went back to the kitchen to get started and Louis went to his car and got all the paint and poster boards and markers and balloons, he struggled back into the bakery trying his best not to drop anything and found the biggest table, a six seater compared to two or four, and decided to call that his work space.

"So are you throwing some sort of coming out party?" A lovely deep voice asked and Louis looked up from the rainbow he was painting on a poster board to see Harry leaning against the counter watching him. "Lots of rainbows" he added and Louis laughed

"No, been there done that, this is for my little sisters birthday party" Harry's eyebrow raised and his cheeks pinked a little. 

"Been there done that" Harry repeated quietly, probably to himself not meaning for Louis to hear, but he did. "How old will she be?" He asked Louis 

"There's two of em', they're gonna be 10"

"Oh twins, woah, I don't know how you manage, one older sister is more than enough for me"

"Oh, its more than just the twins. Two sets of twins actually, and two other sisters. Seven of us all together, two boys and five girls in-between us"

"Holy shit! I'll pray for you tonight!" Harry joked and they laughed 

"I'm gonna need all the prayers I can get, this damn party is in two days"

"The cupcakes are baking right now so let me help" Harry offered walking towards Louis.

"No, nope, I've troubled you more than enough"

"I insist"

"I refuse" Louis challenged. And Harry snatched a poster board and some paints.

"What do ya want on it?"

"Nothing. Go" Harry rolled his eyes and continued to sit there and wait for an answer he liked. "Fine," Louis sighed "Just paint a bunch of daisy's"

"Is that their favorite flower?" Harry asked, dipping a paint brush in green paint

"No, its one of their names" 

"Daisy, that's cute. Daisy and...?"

"Might as well just fill ya in on my whole family yeah? So there's me, Louis, 20 goin to uni for teaching, Lottie is 16, Fizzy is 14, Daisy and Phoebe are turning 10 and Doris and Ernest are nearly a year old" Harry's eyes lit up

"Babies!" He smiled big and Louis chuckled 

"They're a handful, they all are" And for a moment they just stared at each other with sparkling eyes and smiles to match. "What about you? I fill you in on my life, you can't just leave me hanging" he teased

"Course, I've got an older sister, Gemma, she's 22 going to uni in London for psychology and then there's me, I'm 18, last year of high school" Harry smiled shyly. And well, Louis doesn't know what to think because Louis probably went to school with Gemma, and if she stayed in Doncaster, no doubt they'd be going to the same uni and Harry probably goes to school with Lottie and Fizzy and... That's kind of weird to think... "So, you said you go to uni right?"

"Um, yeah" Louis said, reengaging in the conversation "I'm going for teaching, I either wanna be a drama or English teacher" Harry nodded as he painted the the words 'Happy Birthday Daisy & Phoebe!' and they heard the oven beep from back in the kitchen during their momentary silence.

"Oh! The cupcakes!" Harry jumped up and bounded back towards the kitchen, nearly tripping over his long limbs on the way causing Louis to burst out laughing, he could see Harry blushing just as he disappeared into the back. "Hey, mind if I turn on some music? The cupcakes are cooling" 

"Yeah, absolutely, unless of course you have a bad taste in music"

"That all depends on what you consider bad music"

"Heavy metal, country, rap, all that shit" 

"Well as long as your favorite genre isn't classical or gospel than I think we're good" Harry smiled and Louis certainly didn't pause in painting pink flowers to watch Harry lean against the counter and plug his phone into the speakers. He was tall, really, very tall, his legs were thin and long and went on for miles and his black jeans were so tight and if Louis didn't look away soon, his own skinny jeans would be getting just a bit tighter. But his blue eyes just traveled upwards. The black t-shirt Harry was wearing was thin to a point where Louis could just see the muscles of his back and - shit,

Flowers and rainbows and unicorns. Puppy's and kittens and bunnies. 

The cords of a song played through the speakers and it took Louis a minute before he grinned at Harry when he realized what song was playing "Good song" Harry nodded tapping his fingers to the beat and walked over to the table. 

"How many more posters do we need to make?" They already made a total of seven. 

"Actually... I think we have more than we need if I'm being honest... Oops"

"That's okay, I painted a unicorn on one of them and the legs really look like macaroni noodles" Harry shrugged and Louis bursts out into a fit of giggles and Harry shortly followed. "So now what?" he asked once they sobered up from laughing. 

"Balloons." Louis sighed but Harry didn't hesitate jumping and opening the package of balloons and started to blow one up before Louis could even process it. 

They had 47 balloons of all different colors floating around on the floor and both boys were out of breath. "Maybe its time we decorate the cupcakes yeah?" Harry asked weakly and Louis nodded, getting up they went back to the kitchen and there were so many cupcakes. The cupcakes had layers of different colors to make them a rainbow and Louis really couldn't thank him enough. "Why don't we bring these out to the dining area, there's more room out there, plus the music" Harry suggested and Louis nodded. Out In the dining room they moved the posters to smaller tables and pushed the tables to the back corners of the room. 

One by one they carried out the trays of cupcakes. 8 and a half dozen. Holy shit. Harry brought out a box of toppings "What type of frosting do ya want?" Harry asked

"Anything you have to fit the theme, what would you use if I wasn't here?"

"Probably vanilla and light pink butter cream" 

"Those sound perfect" Harry nodded told Louis he'd be back in a minute. When he reappeared from the back he was holding two of those frosting bags you see on all the cupcake shows. One pink and the other white. 

"I'll show you how to do it properly," He's having Louis practice over a paper plate first. Okay. "Hold the bag vertically above the cupcake, carefully squeeze out frosting, dip down and out into a circle and come back to the middle" Harry piped out the perfect cupcake. Looked easy enough. Louis tried to do what he just watched Harry do, but it certainly wasn't as easy as it looked. Harry watched as Louis tried 3 times with the vanilla frosting and paper plates. 

"What the fuck" Louis huffed

"'S okay, you're doin good, took me a while to get a hang of it too, here," and Harry was right behind him. How was he supposed to concentrate on frosting when Harry wrapped his arms around him and placed his giant hands over Louis', moving them slightly to hold the pastry bag correctly. His hands were so big, bear paws. Fingers so long and pretty. Harry's chest was pressed against Louis' back and his head was sitting on his shoulder, his breath hitting Louis' ear in the worst best way possible. If Harry was telling him something, he didn't know, all he could hear was the hums of Harry's deep voice and all he could focus on was Harry's body pressed to his. Louis fought to keep his eyes open, to not bathe in the heat that radiated from Harry. 

For a moment neither of them moved. And then Louis' back was cold. And Harry was clearing his throat, face red with blush and avoiding Louis' eyes at all costs. They frosted just 12 cupcakes like that, in kind of an awkward silence. And then the song playing through the speakers faded and a new one came on a soft beat played. Louis knew the song, Ships In The Night by Mat Kearney. Harry hummed the whole song, singing the chorus softly, so soft that Louis couldn't hear how he sounded and it was pretty frustrating. Harry probably has a great singing voice. The piano faded away and a new voice came through the speakers. 'Ah lahmlahlah, Ah lahmlahlah'. Louis started swaying his hips and bobbing his head to the beat

"I met this girl late last year she said, 'Don't you worry if I disappear.' I told her I'm not really looking for another mistake," It startled Louis a little, He looked up across the table to see Harry in his own little world of cupcakes and music, spitting out the lyrics to the song like it was nothing, like he forgot Louis was there. Louis watched him, swaying and singing and it was, in all honesty, beautiful. He waited for the right moment before fisting his hand and knocking on the table three times watching and fighting a smile as Harry jumped out of his shoes almost dropping a cupcake

"On my hotel door, I don't even know if she knows what for, she was crying on my shoulder I already told ya trust and respect is what we do this for," Louis sang and Harry stared at him, "I never intended to be next" He pursed his lips, widened his eyes and moved his head left to right with the beat and a large grin took over Harry's face. "But you didn't need to take him to bed that's all, And I never saw him as a threat" He did the head thing again, singing the lyrics straight to Harry and Harry was giggling, "Until you disappeared with him to have sex of course" and Harry sang the next part and they both sang the chorus. And oh my Harry had probably the most beautiful voice ever, better than Ed Sheeran. Louis wanted Harry to keep singing forever and ever and never stop. Before either one could comment, the next song came on and Harry ran over to turn it up, swinging his hips, cupcake in one hand, pastry bag in the other. They sang a lot and danced a little as they frosted and decorated the cupcakes, laughing loudly and Harry fell to the floor clutching his stomach when Louis tripped over a balloon, popping it and getting a cupcake hat. Harry did a whole little dance to Lips Are Moving by Meghan Trainer, twirling around waving his arms, it was absolutely positively the cutest thing Louis had ever seen. 

The cupcakes were done and they returned to blowing up balloons, at the moment Harry was trying to be punk rock or something, with an All Time Low song playing and he was banging his head in the air (completely adorable) and there was about 143 balloons floating around. They had eight more to go, Harry found a few little air pumps in the supply closest, thank god. Louis was in the almost done blowing up a pink balloon when the song changed and Harry froze, his eyes lit up and his smile got bigger, if that was possible. He started swinging his hips widely and Louis couldn't hold in the laugh and the balloon went flying around the room and they were both laughing so hard Louis couldn't even groan if he tried

"'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate" He was crazy. Harry was truly a mad man. He was shaking his head in front of Louis, hair all crazy. "Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake" he grabbed Louis' hands and tugged him to the center of the room singing loudly and Louis couldn't breathe. He held Louis' hands and made him dance until he didn't have to make him anymore.

"Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, I shake it off, I shake it off" Louis pulled back from Harry shaking his whole body, his feet kicking balloons as he moved.

"I never miss a beat!, I'm lightning on my feet" and Harry ran towards Louis, sliding across the floor in his socks (what the hell happened to his boots?) and then he tripped on a balloon and that one popped too, and Harry slipped on his butt. And they laughed uncontrollably as Louis helped him up.

"My ex-man brought his new girlfriend  
She's like 'Oh, my god!' but I'm just gonna shake. And to the fella over there" Louis sang and pointed at Harry, "With the hella good hair," Harry flipped his hair, like a girl that is trying overly hard to flirt "Won't you come on over, baby? We can shake, shake, shake" and he pulled Harry into him, holding hands and spinning around.

***

After a few more songs they were exhausted, the music was turned down to a more reasonable volume and they sat next to each other with their backs against a wall talking about random little things. "you're not gonna get in trouble are you?" Louis asked, he never even thought about all the trouble Harry could get into for their little party.

"No," Harry shook his head, "My aunt owns the bakery"

"Okay good. Um... Maybe we should clean up.. What time is it?" they stood up and Harry went and looked at his phone

"Oh my god. Its 11:14"

"Holy shit" Louis breathed. He didn't know he'd been here for that long. "we should probably clean up..."

"Yeah. I'll get boxes for the cupcakes and big bags to help control the balloons" Louis got up off the floor and turned on the lights, they only had a dim set of lights on, and then collected the posters, paint and markers. Harry returned and gave Louis a garbage bag and packed up the cupcakes as Louis collected the balloons. "Want me to help you carry this out to your car?" 

"Um... Actually can I come pick the cupcakes up tomorrow? I'll bring my sisters to help" it's not like he just wanted to see Harry again

"Yeah! Let me just label them." He grabbed a sharpie off the counter, "Just Louis?"

"Louis Tomlinson" he certainly didn't want Harry to search him on ever social media site. 

"Louis Tomlinson" Harry smiled and wrote it on every one of the cute pink boxes in his cute hand writing. 

Harry helped load everything else in the car and Louis leaned with his back against the car and Harry standing in front of him. Close, but he could be standing closer. Louis doesn't know what to say really, he spent the last 6 hours with this boy but it feels like they've known each other for years. For more than years.

"So I'll be back here tomorrow with the Tomlinson squad"

"Even the babies?" 

"No, sorry love." Harry pouted and Louis really really wanted to kiss him. "And they're not Tomlinson's. They're Deakins. But that's a whole other story for another day" 

"I'll be sure to remember that. I'll see ya tomorrow Lou" Louis got into the car and Harry walked backwards towards the bakery, watching Louis and Louis watched him through his rearview till he couldn't anymore. Until tomorrow Harry.


	2. And Muffins

"what happened to you last night? We sent you out to get cupcakes and you never came back" Lottie said when Louis walked into the kitchen the next morning. One of her friends giggled. "See a hot boy and get distracted?" as a matter of fact he did see a hot boy. But that was none of Lottie and her little minions business. "Did you even get the cupcakes? Where are they?"

"Yes, Jesus lots, we just have to go by the bakery today to pick them up" poured himself a bowl of cocoa puffs

"So where were you the rest of the night? Doesn't take 6 hours to order cupcakes" Lotties friend with raven hair and blue eyes asked. 

"Aw, was ya worried bout me Em? Stayed up till the wee hours to make sure I got home okay?" Louis teased

"Sorry to break it to ya babe but the only thing I was worried bout was the cupcakes" Emily retorted 

"If Lou wasn't gay I'd make bets that Em would be the one to fall for her best friends big brother" Nikki, another one of Lottie's friend said and the whole group laughed and Em faked throwing up.

"Well its a good thing I like dick" Louis grinned, eating a spoonful of cereal 

"Louis doesn't need to be straight for Em to be in love with him" another girl, Louis doesn't remember her name, Beatrice or something, pointed out

"Except I have a boyfriend that I love!" Em shouted 

"Alright, alright, alright calm down chicky" Lottie laughed. "Lets go get ready to get those cupcakes" her and her little minions, as louis liked to call them, disappeared up the stairs and Louis finished his cereal in peace. 

On his way back to his room to get dressed he stopped by the nursery. "Hey mum," She was sitting next to a dresser with a laundry basket on the other side of her and two babies wearing only diapers playing with blocks in the corner.

"Hello love"

"Can I take the van to go pick up the cupcakes? I don't know if Lottie told you-"

"She did, and yes you can, I'll give you money for the cupcakes after the party"

"Mum no, you don't have to"

"Yes I do boo," She smiles and Louis couldn't fight her, he knew he wouldn't win, that's just how his mum is. He closed the door behind him and walked two doors down.

"Fiz" he knocked on the bedroom door.

"Yeah Lou?"

"you're helping with the cupcakes, get ready and get the twins ready too" he heard her groan from inside her room as he made his was to his own bedroom. He mentally made a list of everyone that was joining him to get the cupcakes and there was no way he was handling seven girls, five of which were teenagers. 

"ello?"

"Hey Zaynie boy" he grinned into his phone. He heard a groan from the other line 

"What do ya want tommo?" 

"Oh you know me to well Z"

"yeah, yeah, get on wit it"

"I need your help with picking up the cupcakes for the twins birthday"

"I thought Lottie was makin 'em?" he told Zayn about what happened while rummaging through his closest looking for something to wear.

"Get ready, I'll be there in 10" and he hung up. What to wear, what to wear? Should he go with jeans and a button up or black skinny jeans and a t-shirt? He could wear his red pants, those make his ass look great, but he didn't want to look too flamboyant, he felt that the button up would be trying to hard but he wasn't sure if a t-shirt would say casual or not trying at all. So in the end he decided on black skinnies that complimented his wonderful butt, rolled up just above the ankles, a white t-shirt and a jean jacket. And Vans, of course. He used the bathroom downstairs, the girls had a line going outside of the one upstairs, he brushed his teeth, combed his hair, decided it looked like he was trying to hard, messed up his hair, and then just ran his hand through it. He was trying too hard to look like he was trying but not too hard. Was he trying to impress a certain curly haired boy today? Certainly not. 

"I call front seat!" Louis popped out of the bathroom 

"Sorry Lots, that seats reserved for Zayn" he grabbed the keys from the key rack next to the door and followed the girls out to the caravan. 

"How do you suppose we fit nine people in a seven passenger van?" Fizzy asked and that's always the struggle with a large family. They usually split up into two vehicles whenever going someplace as a family.

"Two of ya get to sit in the trunk?" Louis shrugged 

"Me and Lottie!" Em called and the group squeezed into the van.

"Fuck Lou, didn't know you were bringin the whole fam" Zayn said when he got in the packed van. Louis just laughed and pretended he wasn't getting a little nervous about seeing Harry soon.

***

"Cupcakes! Cupcakes!" Daisy cheered as walked into the bakery 

"They're rainbow right Lou?" Phoebe asked. The bakery was busier than the last time Louis was there, but the fact that it was 11am on a Saturday instead of 5pm on a Friday probably played a big role. They walked in and Louis struggled to hide the smile as he got flashbacks from the night before. "Louis? They're rainbow yeah?" Phoebe pawed at his arm.

"Yes, yes Phoebs, the cupcakes are rainbow" He said and shook her off of him. "Lets go sit over there and I'll go ask for the cupcakes" he nodded his head towards a group of tables. 

"Louis can I have a muffin?"

"Yeah! Can I have a raspberry Danish? Please Lou!" Daisy bounced

"Oh! Yeah I actually want a cheese Danish!" Phoebe and Daisy jumped up and down in front of him 

"Jesus, didn't you kids eat breakfast?" Zayn asked

"No!" Phoebe giggled, throwing her head back

"Okay, okay, oaky, fine!" Louis said trying to calm the twins down.

"It's Harry Styles!" He heard one of the girls whisper in excitement. His head whipped around to see the one and only talking to a lady from behind the counter, and then he turned to look at Lottie and her friends. They were all standing there giggling and sneaking peeks at Harry. Louis didn't like it. He squinted his eyes at them,

"Who's Harry Styles?" (he already knew) 

"oh-" Beatrice squeaked, her face going red

"Just this hot senior at our school. He works here" Nikki told him. An uneasy feeling settled in Louis' stomach. He didn't like them talking about Harry and he didn't know why. 

"O-oh... Well I'm gonna go get the twins something to eat. You girls want something?" the girls all shouted their orders at Louis and he went to wait in line. 

"Louis!" Harry smiled wide when he saw him.

"Hey curly!" Harry's green eyes sparkled.

"Here for the cupcakes?" the boy blushed and Louis loved it.

"Yes but first I'm gonna order, the kiddies want some breakie"

"Just warning you now, not everything is made, so it'll be a little wait but I'll bring you the food. Some guy came in late last night and ordered a ton of cupcakes so I didn't get everything prepped" Harry smirked and Louis blushed 

"Sounds like an asshole, that guy" and you could see Harry's dimples and it was wonderful. "Anyway," Louis cleared his throat, "I need 2 raspberry Danish's... You might wanna write this down" Louis smirked and Harry rushed to get a notepad and pen.

"Two raspberry Danishes," Louis nodded as Harry scribbled it down 

"One cheese Danish, a cinnamon muffin, an apple muffin, two blueberry muffins-" Louis said, concentrating on Harry's dimple that was just barely showing and he leaned against the counter, hair falling around his face beautifully. 

"Hey babe, the twins are begging for orange juice and Fez wants chia tea" Zayn. Fucking Zayn. Harry's eyes widened a fraction at the word babe and Louis wants to punch Zayn in the face. Some great fucking wingman he is. Harry wasn't smiling anymore, he was standing straight and stiff watching Zayn and Louis with a blank face.

"K, thanks mate" Louis said with a tight lipped smile. Zayn patted him on the back and went back to the girls. "Sorry bout that..." Louis coughed, Harry shook his head and told him it was okay. "Anyway... Where was I?"

"two blueberry muffins" Harry smiled. But it wasn't his dazzling smile and Louis could sure as hell blame it on damn Zayn. 

"Okay, a chocolate chip muffin, two orange juice's, a small chia tea and for me um..."

"For you..." Harry repeated with a smirk. And dimples. And his eyes were sparkling. And holy shit. Breathe Louis, breathe.

"Surprise me" Louis said, matching Harry's smirk. And then he walked away and he definitely did not sway his hips a little. Nope, not at all. But when he got back to the table he, Zayn and the twins were sharing, he glanced back to see Harry staring right at him and Louis just smirked when Harry blushed and tried not to laugh as the tall boy almost tripped on his way back to the kitchen. He also fought the urge to jump up and do a little happy giddy dance. 

"The hell is up wit you?" Zayn asked, his eyebrow raised.

"What? Nothing" the twins sat across from them playing a game on Zayn's phone, he was good like that, and the other girls were sat at another table talking like teenage girls do.

"Bullshit tommo" Zayn laughed. "You're fuckin blushing" 

"I u-um uh... I j-just-" his face was so red

"Save it Lou" Zayn smirked "It's that-"

"Lou where's our food?" Daisy asked, cutting Zayn off, and Louis wasn't going to complain 

"It should be done soon baby" They got through 13 games of tic tac toe on 13 napkins, winner playing whoever was sat next to them, before Louis looked up towards the kitchen to see if Harry was coming yet and sure enough there he was. Struggling to keep his footing and not drop the bunch of bakery bags he was carrying all the while balancing a cardboard cup holder, biting his lip in concentration. Zayn and Phoebe were in the middle of a game and Louis jumped up and was in front of Harry before he even knew what he was doing. "Would you like some help babe?" Louis asked, smirking because Harry was beyond adorable. He was definitely in Harry's personal space but he also definitely didn't care. Harry stopped to look at Louis, his eyes got a wide and his mouth formed that perfect little 'o' and he blushed and louis felt like dancing. Harry didn't reply to him so Louis took it upon himself to grab a bag and the cup holder from Harry's arms.

"Thank you Louis" Harry whispered in a breath and Louis just wanted to sit there, in Harry's personal breathing space, feeling the faint puff of Harry's breaths touch his skin. He almost closed his eyes to soak in the moment but then remembered they were in a bakery with a steady flow of customers walking in and his best friend, sisters and Lottie's friends sitting just a few feet away. So he took a step back, turned around and led Harry to their tables. 

"Now, what's what?" Louis asked, peeking in the bag he held. Harry moved in front of him to put the bags on the table.

"I would say I know but I'd be lying" Harry bowed his head slightly to look inside the bags and louis took a tiny step forward and stood on his tip toes slightly so the heels of his feet were just off the ground.

"I know you lie" he whispered into Harry's ear. "'Cause your lips are moving" he started singing quietly. Harry froze on spot and Louis' lips curled into a teasing smile. "Tell me do you think I'm dumb?" Harry's face was burning red but he was grinning and Louis loved it.

"Louis" Harry groaned and Louis certainly liked the way his name rolled off Harry's tongue like that. 

"Lets see what we got shall we?" Louis moved away like nothing happened and him and Harry looked in each bag to see what it held. Their hands touched and brushed more times than necessary and judging by the lip biting and dimples on Harry's pretty pretty face it wasn't on accident and it sure as hell wasn't accidental on Louis' part. Louis' pretty sure they looked in each bag three times before he started focusing on what was actually in the bag instead of where Harry's hands were. "Okay, so we got two blueberry muffins, for Fizzy and... Beatrice?"

"Fizzy and Nikki" Fizzy said, getting up and grabbing the bag. "I'm guessing this is mine too?" she asked about the tea. Louis nodded and she took the tea and went back to the table. 

"What have ya got there curly?" 

"Um.. A cinnamon, chocolate chip and apple muffin"

"Cinnamon is for Zaynie boy," He grabbed it from the bag and gave it to Zayn. Louis didn't miss the way Zayn was watching him and Harry, observing them, he just decided to ignore it. "Apple is for Lottie, chocolate chip is for Em and I've got the Danish for Beatrice, give this to them will ya love?" Harry nodded and Louis paused to watch him give the girls their food, he didn't look at his butt or his back, his fucking back muscles. Jesus Christ. He watched as the girls giggled and blushed at every word he said, small enjoyment as Harry shifted and glanced back at Louis uncomfortably and distaste when Nikki puffed her chest out and fluttered her eye lashes. 

"Thank you Harry" Louis wanted to roll his eyes, Nikki was trying so hard.

"How do they know my name?" Harry asked, standing behind him, lips so so close to Louis' ear he got chills. 

"Oh don't ya know? You're Mr. Hot shot senior at Donny high" Louis whispered, smirking at the tall boys discomfort.

"Noooooooo" It was cute. Harry was cute. His cute face was red and it was cute. Really fucking cute.

"I don't blame 'em, you're a pretty boy" and Harry's pretty face was buried in Louis' shoulder and he felt him tugging at his jean jacket and Louis loved it. He fucking loved it. He didn't know when, why or how him and Harry got close like this, not caring about each others personal space, acting like they've know each other for years, it really, really felt like it.

"You think I'm pretty?" Harry mumbled into his shoulder and yes, yes, yes, fuck yes he thought he was beyond pretty.

"Louis is this mine? I'm thirsty!" and just like that their bubble was popped and it wasn't just them in the bakery anymore. Louis blinked and Harry, unfortunately, lifted his head up, let go of his jacket and stepped back.

"Are these the twins? Daisy and Phoebe?" Harry asked Louis, his face lighting up in the best way ever. Louis nodded. "Hi! I'm Harry!" he said to the girls with the cutest smile 

"I'm Phoebe and this is my sister Daisy" Louis watched as Harry looked between the girls and leaned down to whisper to Phoebe but he was loud enough for Louis to hear.

"Did you know that Daisy looks just like you?" and the girls burst out into fits of giggles 

"We're twins! Silly!" Harry's eyes went wide with surprise and his jaw dropped 

"You're twins? No way! Oh my god!" the twins were giggling their little heads off and Louis was bursting at the seams with fondness. "Okay so I made these Danishes' and I was wondering... Do you think I should eat them now... Or later?"

"Those are for us!" Daisy laughed

"You're so silly Harry!" Phoebe took the bakery bags from him and the orange juice cups from the cup holder

"Make sure to let me know if they turned out okay?" Harry said, referring to the Danishes he made, the girls nodded and thanked him and he turned around to face Louis. 

"I'm guessing that's mine?" there was one last bakery bag sitting at the table. Harry blushed and nodded, taking a step forward into Louis' personal space, just the way Louis liked it. "What is it?" he grabbed the bag and looked inside but wasn't to sure what he was looking at. Something like rolls covered in cinnamon and sugar with some sort of filling? He'd never seen anything like it.

"French toast roll ups. Basically French toast covered with cinnamon and sugar, rolled up with a filling. They're my favorite" he was blushing more aw, aw, aw! "I didn't know what fillings you liked so I gave you strawberry jam, caramel, two nutella and three nutella and banana, the nutella and bananas are the best, I think" he's so fucking sweet. And Louis was blushing. 

"Thank you" he whispered 

"I've got to um get back to work, just come get me when you're ready to get the cupcakes" after 34 seconds of just staring at each other, Harry finally left and Louis finally sat back down at the table. Zayn was staring at him. Waiting for Louis to say something but Louis wasn't going to, there was nothing to say. And then he broke and gave in to Zayn's stare.

"What?" And Zayn started laughing and Louis was confused, but he wasn't about to ask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna be totally honest, I'm writing this story on the spot, in the notes on my phone, not sure at all where it's going so bare with me please, and I'm very inaccurate with a lot of stuff I know but comment and lemme know what you think yeah? xxxx


	3. And Rainbows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I haven't updated in such a long time, I kind of got distracted and writers block? I was actually thinking about deleting the 2nd chapter and just leaving this as a one shot but then someone commented saying that this was probably their fav fanfic atm and that literally made my day so I sat down and struggled to write this but hopefully I'm past the writers block. Thank you for sticking with me and reading!! Xxxx

Louis didn't know what to do. Harry told him to get him when he was ready for the cupcakes but Harry was back in the kitchen. Does he just go back into the kitchen or does he go up and ask the blonde lady working behind the counter where Harry is? "What do I do?" they've been done with their food for a while and the girls were starting to get restless but Harry still hasn't came out of the kitchen. Zayn rolled his eyes and grabbed Louis' arm and dragged him to the counter.

"Excuse me" Zayn said, gaining the attention of the lady, she had to be in her thirties, she had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. "Do you know where Harry is?" 

"Harry? Yes, he's in the back, would you like me to get him?" Zayn nodded, she turned around, paused then looked back at Louis and Zayn. "May I know who's asking?"

"Zayn and oh - um, Louis" Zayn pointed to Louis and the lady's eyes widened with realization and a smile over took her face. 

"Oh Louis!" she exclaimed like she knew Louis personally. It was a little weird. "Why didn't you say so? Just go on back honey" and okay? Louis shot Zayn a look but left him to go back to the kitchen. And there he was. Rolling out dough, covered in flour and wearing an apron. He looked fucking adorable. 

"Hey curly" Louis smiled and Harry smiled back. 

"Hi!" he abandoned the dough just like that and appeared in front of Louis, grinning down at him. 

"Really pulling off the apron there" Louis smirked and winked and the younger boy blushed.

"Part of the work uniform"

"I like a man in uniform" he didn't even mean to say it out loud but he couldn't stop smirking and Harry couldn't stop blushing. "Anyway, I'm here for the cupcakes" 

"Oh, yeah, yeah!" He took off his apron and hung it over a chair. "The cupcakes are in the fridge, I'll be right back" and Harry disappeared around the corner and Louis stood there for a second before his brain started working a mile a minute and he was looking around the kitchen frantically for something to write on and with. He found a pen on the counter and remember he shoved a tic tac toe game in his pocket. He rushing scribbled on the napkin to make sure the pen worked and then wrote his number along with a little note;

The asshole that ordered 100 cupcakes :) xxx

He folded the napkin and shoved it in the pocket of Harry's apron and tossed the pen back onto the counter just in time for Harry to come back, carrying three boxes. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry I should've helped you - "

"Louis it's okay! Just help me with the rest?" Harry Styles had very soft eyes. Louis helped Harry take the boxes of cupcakes out of the big walk in refrigerator, Harry called him babe twice and Louis loved it. He found that he loved a lot of things Harry did but that's okay. Louis got Zayn and the girls in the back and they each got a box. Harry made the twins giggle like crazy, again, and talked to them about their birthday and Louis couldn't help but watch. When the car was filled with girls, cupcakes and Zayn, Louis was back in Harry's personal space, right where he liked it, and Harry was holding onto his jean jacket. "Good luck with the party, I hope the signs are a hit" 

"They definitely will be, you should just quit the baking business and go into professional sign painting. Harry laughing softly and tugged on Louis' jacket.

"I should probably get back to work." please don't 

"U-um yeah... Yeah course" Louis nodded. They did that thing where they just stared at each other, this time for 51 seconds, before Zayn yelled for Louis to 'hurry the fuck up'. They blushed and hesitantly parted ways. 

Louis just prayed Harry would look in that apron pocket and not throw the napkin away without a second look.

**

The rest of the day was busy. Spent at the little venue setting up for the party. Louis and Zayn, Louis forced Zayn against his will, were setting up 10 plastic tables. "So what's going on with you and that Harry kid? And why haven't I heard about him?"

"Nothings going on," it was kind of true... "And I haven't told you about him because one, there's nothing to tell and two, what was I supposed to say? Oh hey Zayn I met this kid at a bakery, he's pretty cool" Zayn scoffed 

"Looked pretty cozy together you two"

"We're friends... I think... I guess.." Louis shrugged

"You think?" Louis shrugged again.

"I don't really know him"

"You don't really - you two act like you've know each other for years Jesus, how long have you known him?!" Zayn had stopped trying to figure out how to set up the table and was now looking at Louis like he was crazy. Which, he kind of was.

"I met him last night when I went to the bakery to order the cupcakes"

"Are you talking about last night? Because just to inform you Zayn, Louis here didn't come back till 11 at night" Lottie said, her and Em carrying chairs past the two boys. 

"He left at five. Six hours he was gone. Six!" Em tutted. Louis rolled his eyes and blushed some more and Zayn just stared at him before grabbing his arm and pulling him out back. 

"Where are you going?" Lottie asked 

"Smoke break. Be back in 10" Zayn told her and yeah. Louis is a smoker. Not something he's to proud of, nasty habit it is, and his mum absolutely hates it. "So what exactly happened last night?" Zayn asked, pulling out a cigarette and placing it between his lips, Louis snatches one from him and does the same, fishing the lighter out of his pocket and lighting the cigarette. 

"Just went to the bakery and Harry happened to be the only one working and we kinda ended up hanging out.."

"But you like him yeah?" Louis shrugged. "Oh stop shrugging and blushin Tommo! You clearly like him, you practically drooled over him today I swear and you were sporting heart eyes every time you looked at him"

"We're just... We're just kind of friends Z, drop it" just then Louis' phone dinged. He pulled it out of his back pocket to see a text from an unknown number.

From Unknown:   
Is this the asshole who ordered 100 rainbow cupcakes at the bakery yesterday? :)

Harryharryharry

To Unknown:  
Yesssssss. & who might this be?

He knew who it was

From unknown:  
The curly kid :) x

And then his phone started ringing. He answered it on the second ring. 

"Hey" Louis smiled into his phone and Zayn just stared at him 

"I was gonna wait for you to text me first but realized that might not happen until tomorrow so I took the risk and texted you first"

"How would I have texted...?" Louis asked, confused. Harry laughed softly through the phone 

"Go look at the cupcakes" he could hear Harry's smile through the phone and oh it was lovely, but the cupcakes? What the hell did the cupcakes have to do with anything? He flicked the bit of ashes forming at the tip of the cigarette off and rubbed it against the brick wall he was leaning on to stop it from burning and tucked the cigarette behind his ear, and headed back into building not even bothering to check if Zayn was following or not. He went down to the basement where there was a large chefs kitchen and opened the fridge, pulling out the first box of cupcakes. He heard Zayn asking what the hell he was doing but he payed no mind to him.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" there was nothing different about the box or the cupcakes inside. 

"The box with a smiley face next to your name" Louis' eyes raked the boxes in the fridge and sighed when he realized he couldn't see the writing on the top of the boxes without taking them all out. And of course, the box that had 'Louis Tomlinson :)' on it was on the bottom.

"Always gotta make things complicated don't ya?" Harry giggled and probably blushed. Louis hoped Harry was blushing. He opened the box and found a piece of paper folded and taped to the inside of the box with an L on the front. He knew he was smiling big, too big, but... Eh. He pulled the note from the box, Zayn hovering over him. 

"Wait are you reading it now? Don't oh god, no I'll hang up" Harry rushed

"Don't you dare" Louis opened the note and saw numbers and words. Harry's phone number. 

I liked shaking it off with you  
-The next M.T.

"M.T.?" Did it stand for Mr. Tomlinson? Because that's kind of creepy. Please don't let Harry be the creepy kind. He's too cute.

"Meghan Trainor" Harry mumbled into the phone and it took Louis a second for it all to click and he burst out laughing.

"You are... You are incredible" really. Harry really truly is incredible. What was Louis going to do with him? Definitely not think like that... Oh no... Nope. Harry is innocent and well shit that didn't help any. He started coughing almost violently to get those thoughts of Harry out of his head.

"You okay Lou?" He nodded his head and then coughed out a yes remembering that Harry can't see him.

"Who are you talking to? Who's M.T.? Louis!" he ignored Zayn and just moved, trying to get away from Zayn so he could talk to Harry in private.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, yeah, just trying to get away from Zayn!" he yelled his name and shot Zayn a look as he scurried around the corner. He honestly didn't know where he was going but he was talking to Harry so.

"Zayn..." 

"Yeah, my friend... He's helping set up for the party"

"oh" that didn't sound like a good oh. Did Harry think there was something going on between him and Zayn? Please don't. 

"So, what are you up to?" 

"'m just studying" Louis opened a door and slid inside without looking to see what it was. It was a closet. Fun. "What about you?"

"Just..." he looked around the small room, "hiding in a closest"

"I can relate" Harry said just above a whisper. Wait what?

"Harry..." Louis said cautiously 

"That's a conversation for another day. What are you doing in a closet?"

"Hiding from Zayn" 

"Why are you hiding from Zayn?" 

"He's a snot head." Harry giggled. "He's nosy, wants to listen in on the conversation. So, Harry, we should hang out sometime"

"Um, y-yeah sure"

"Okay great," someone started banging on the closest door, "Okay I've got to go now, someone's found me. Just let me know when you're free" 

"Course. Bye Louis"

"Bye Harry" he whispered. When he opened the door he came face to face with a suspicious Zayn.

"Who was that hm?" 

"None ya business snot head" pushing past Zayn, Louis found his was back up to the main floor and continued helping set up, ignoring Zayn the whole time.


	4. And Sprinkles

A week had passed since Louis saw Harry, but they talked all the time and texted nonstop. On Saturday they met up at cafe and saw a film together, all platonic of course. Louis didn't even know Harry's sexuality which was quite frustrating. On Sunday they had another platonic get together and walked around a park, playing a small tiny game of footie where Louis learned that Harry was shit at the game. They managed to meet up on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at either the library or at a cafe and studied together. Well, it was more of an attempt at studying but really just distracting each other by throwing paper balls and candy wrappers and eventually reading children's books to each other or people watching and creating a whole background story, and of course Louis stealing Harry's school notebooks every chance he could and drawing a silly picture on a random page.

On Friday Harry invited Louis to his house which for some reason made Louis really nervous and he probably spent a couple extra minutes getting ready because Harry's mum and step dad were going to be there, obviously because they live there. Louis just wanted to make a really good impression. Don't ask him why. However he's pretty sure the chance at a good first impression was lost when the pair walked into the house to the sight of Louis shoving a cupcake in Harry's face while calling him a 'fuck face'. Good job Louis. This is why Harry shouldn't tell jokes, honestly. Louis couldn't face Anne and Robin again, he was absolutely horrified but Harry was giggling his curly head off the whole time so that made it a little bit better. 

On Saturday Louis went to the bakery and Harry gave him a cookie (the largest in the batch) to hold him over until he got off work and then they went to Harry's house and played some FIFA, Louis of course winning everytime. When it started getting late Harry offered to walk Louis back to the bakery where Louis left his car, on their walk Louis angled his body towards Harry.

"Remember the first time we talked on the phone?" he was walking backwards along the sidewalk with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his grey sweatshirt. Harry nodded with a little smile. "What did you mean when you said you could um... Relate to hiding in a closet?" the question has been sitting in Louis' mind ever since harry said the words.

"I, um..." Harry stared down at his brown suede boots hitting the cement sidewalk. "So basically I'm gay." he paused. And okay, there probably shouldn't be a sparkle of hope in his stomach right now but. "But," there's always a but, "Only really my family knows. Everyone at school assumes I'm straight" oh poor Lottie and Nikki. 

"Wouldn't that be kind of... Hard? Like do you just date girls or?" Harry shook his head

"No, I've never been in a relationship actually" Louis was going to say something but Harry beat him to it. "Looks like this is your stop" and would you look at that, they were in the bakery parking lot. 

"Yup"

"Yeah" and they just stared at each other until Louis snapped out of the 'harry styles daze'. They said goodbye with a hug that lasted maybe too long and Louis climbed in his car and headed home where he was left alone with thoughts of Harry swimming in his mind.

***

Louis was going crazy. He's turned his room upside down and inside out looking for his damn phone. Seriously, where the fuck could it be? "Louis!" he looked up from where he was lying on the floor looking under his bed. Lottie was standing the doorway with her arms crossed

"What?"

"Why the hell is Harry Styles at the door asking for you?" Harry? Before Louis knew what he was doing he was pushing past Lottie and trotting down the stairs. The front door was shut and there was no Harry in sight. Was Lottie just messing with him?

"There's someone at the door for you Lou" Fizzy said passing the foyer with a baby in her arms. The door. He jogged to the door and opened it to find a confused curly haired boy standing on the front step.

"Harry?"

"Lou! Hey" he smiled big.

"What are you doing here? Come in," Louis stepped aside to allow Harry into the house.

"I, uh, thought you might want this" pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and Louis has seen Harrys phone enough (there's at least 100 selfies of Louis on the lads phone) to know that his was gold and not black.

"Jesus I've been looking for it all morning" 

"You left it on the table, mum found it this morning."

"Well I'll have to thank her" he smiled up at the younger boy

"I guess you will. How bout staying for dinner on Sunday?" and who was Louis to say no to a face like that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I dont know if they're going to go on a date or kiss first and I also don't know who's going to initiate it and how...


	5. And strawberry frosting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your comments literally make my day. They make me sooooo happy, if I wasn't so awkward I would reply. I wanna give you all a hug and cookies and pizza

They're just friends. This is just one friend going to the other friends house to eat dinner with his friends parents. Louis should not be this nervous about eating dinner with his friends parents. "Louis!" Harry grinned when he opened the front door.

"Oh my god" were the first words out of his mouth when he saw Harry standing in the entry way wearing a floral apron. Harry glanced down, his cheeks went crimson and he started stuttering out nonsense.

"That's so embarrassing I'm sorry oh god" the blushing boy scrambled to take off the apron but Louis caught hold of his wrist.

"Don't be embarrassed of it if you like it Harry" his voice coming out softly. Harry stared at his feet. "Hey," Louis was nearly whispering now. Harry lifted his eyes to meet Louis' blue eyes and then looked back down. "Do you like the apron?" Harry nodded and Louis took a gentle hold of the lads face, lifting his chin up so they were looking each other in the eye. "Don't be embarrassed or ashamed of what makes you happy. Besides, I quite like it" he added a wink at the last part and Harry sparkled brighter than all the stars in the sky. "Did you cook?" he asked, walking past Harry into the house.

"Helped mum a bit"

"What are we having?" Louis made his way down the hall into the living room trusting that the tall boy was trailing behind.

"Baked garlic brown sugar chicken with cilantro lime rice" Louis froze where he was and spun around on his heal. Harry was beaming.

"No you didn't" his voice was laced with disbelief. There was no way Harry made Louis' favorite meal. Harry nodded a tiny bit and if he smiled any bigger no doubt his pretty face would split in two.

"Is that Gemma?" Anne called from the kitchen.

"Your sisters coming?" Louis' face paled a bit. He wasn't planning on meeting Harry's older sister. Harry didn't stop grinning, nor did he look away from Louis' eyes as he called back to his mother,

"No mum it was Louis" and just like that, Louis was wearing matching smile.

"Oh good, you boys can come set the table" they turned out of the living room and Louis followed Harry to the kitchen. "Hi Louis" Anne smiled at him while stirring something.

"Hello!"

"Harry darling, why've you still got your apron on?"

"I like it" he said with a simple smile and Louis was most definitely beaming. Anne looked between the two boys suspiciously before waving her hand, shooing them off to go set the table.

**

"So you must be Louis" Louis' head shot up from where he seated on the living room floor beating Harry at yet another game of FIFA. Leaning on the door frame was a female Harry with long pastel blue hair wearing a purple drop-waist shirt dress most likely from urban outfitters, Louis knows this because Lottie begged him to buy her the exact one in black.

"Gemma!" Harry squealed, jumping up, running to the girl and hugging her tightly. Louis paused the game and stood up. "This is Louis,"

"Hello" Louis waved with a little smile.

"Gemma!" Anne walked into the living room with Robin trailing behind. Louis stood, rolling back and forth on the heels of his feet watching the little family reunion feeling a little out of place and awkward. Harry, god bless him, must've noticed because he broke away without being noticed and walked over to Louis, crowding his personal space, just the way Louis like it.

"You'll like her. She's sassy like you"

"Oh I'm sassy?" Louis asked raising an eyebrow.

"The sassiest" Harry smiled down at the boy, biting his lip.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Good. It was one"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah" Jesus christ he really wanted to kiss him. His face was right there. His lips were like right in front of him, all plush and beautifully pink. Fuck.

"Are you gonna come eat dinner or just stare at each other with sickening heart eyes?" the two boys blushed furiously and scurried off to the dining room. At the square table Robin got a spare chair out of the closet and squeezed it in next to Harry's designated seat for Louis. Along with Louis' favorite meal, among the table was also garlic angel hair pasta which was Gemma's absolute favorite.

Anne, Robin and Gemma were engrossed in a conversation about her classes and finals and Louis side glanced at Harry who was chewing a bite of chicken. He leaned closer to the boy and poked the angel hair pasta on Harrys plate with his fork. "Reminds me of your hair" he whispered.

"Oh yeah? How's that?"

"Well, its called angel hair pasta right" Harry nodded wearing the cutest smile. "Well then it must be your hair" and Harry started giggling and Harry Styles giggling was better than all the laughing baby videos on YouTube combined. It was that fucking adorable. "I must say, I wasn't aware that you were blonde" their heads were so close and they weren't talking louder than a whisper but Harry was giggling his curly head off and not only that, but he was blushing. Louis fucking loved it. After 23 seconds of bathing in Harry's personal space, Louis sat back up straight and only then did he realized that they were being watched. The conversant had ended and all attention had been turned onto the two of them. When Harry noticed this he only blushed more and there was no way Louis' cheeks weren't painted crimson.

"What's got ya all giggly H?" Gemma asked with a teasing smirk.

"Just um... Pasta" Harry stuttered and Louis let out a short laugh. Gemma squinted her eyes at them suspiciously.

~

They were sat in the lounge eating a slice of cake that Harry of course made. The topic of conversation was places they'd like to travel, Louis doesn't know how they got there but they did and Gemma had just said she'd love to visit Paris sometime. "Louis goes to France every summer, he's got a summer home there" Harry piped in. Louis nodded his head,

"Uh yeah just a little house in Montazels"

"Montazels?" Gemma asked, unfamiliar with the tiny French town.

"It's a little village in Aude, an hour south of Toulouse"

"That sounds so cute"

"I just don't understand how it's a tiny house when it has six bedrooms" Harry said with an undertone of sassiness as he observed his nails. Louis didn't love it. Nope, nope. 

"Well darling," Louis emphasized on darling and wanted to squeal when he saw the boys lips quirk up at the word. "It can't be too big if its in the village square" 

"Still six bedrooms"

"Housing nine people. Everything feels tiny when there's nine people" Louis poked Harry's dimple only causing him to smile bigger. 

"Jesus. Thank god I'm only here until tomorrow. I don't know how you put up with these two" Gemma told Anne

"I think they're cute" Anne smiled 

"Disgustingly, sickeningly cute maybe"

"Oh but that's the best kind" Anne said with a heart warming smile as she watched Louis make her baby giggle and blush and their blue and green eyes shined brighter than the north star.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I end it here? It's kind of a good ending but I don't think I will... I kinda want them to kiss and go on a date first but we'll see.. :) xxxxx


	6. With cookies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this on a plane (first ever time flying), in a McDonalds and sat next to my mom on a hotel bed.  
> happy valentines day!!! Whether you have a valentine or not, Will you be my valentine? xxx

Its been a month since the family dinner, Louis has been over at Harry's and Harry at Louis'. The first few times Harry came over, Louis was bombarded with questions from Lottie the second Harry left the house. There was even a time when Lottie invited her minions over and Nikki tried so, so hard to flirt with Harry and Harry, bless him, was an oblivious green eyed boy and paid no attention to the girl. But how could he when Louis was there demanding every last penny of attention.

Eventually though, Lottie got over it and accepted the fact Harry would be in their household as much if not more often than Zayn. There'd even been a time or two when both lads were at Louis' house but Zayn would leave saying he couldn't handle all the teeth rotting chocolate syrup. What ever that meant. 

Today it was Friday, Louis was home, he only had two lectures that day. He'd like to say he was patiently waiting for four o'clock to roll around so Harry could come over but in all honesty, he really wasn't being patient at all. He'd been pestering the younger boy through texts all day. His school didn't let out for another two hours and Louis would have to wait a whole extra hour for Harry to come over. Ugh. Why couldn't Harry just come over right after school? With that thought in his head, Louis put down the pink strawberry brownie he was eating, perks of having a boyfriend... A friend... Friend, friend, friend... Perks of having a platonic bro pal that works in a bakery. ~~Louis' little baker~~. What? Heh..

He grabbed his phone and slid it unlocked, fingers tapping away until he got to his and Harry's texts, he typed out a message and sent it;

_To Harry:_  
 _You should just come over after school_

The reply was almost instant, Louis had this kid trained to be at his every beck and call, had him trained to devote all of his attention to Louis. It was all Louis, he was just that powerful over the boy. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Harry was currently sitting in english class where he was supposed to be watching some boring film. Nope, it was purely the power of The Tommo.

_From Harry:_  
 _I am??_

_To Harry:_  
 _No I mean like, right after school. Why go home for an hour ?_

_From Harry:_  
 _I go home to do homework because that's something I can't get done with a Louis Tomlinson running around :P x_

_To Harry:_  
 _Noooooooooo :( I promise I'll let you do ya hw I'll even help ya if you want :) :)_

_From Harry:_  
 _Okayyyyy :)_

_To Harry:_  
 _Yay ! I'll pick you up when I get Lotts and Fizz_

_From Harry:_  
 _Or... I could just drive us all to your house? I do have a car you know_

_To Harry:_  
 _Finnneeeeeeeee_

******

"So the whole school thinks me and Harry are dating" Lottie announced upon entering the house. Harry was trailing behind her, a look of shame on his face and fizzy was laughing.

"Excuse me?" Louis asked, almost choking on his tea

"I didn't mean too!" Harry cried

"What? I'm so confused, someone please explain"

"This knob," Lottie waved her arms at Harry, "Decided to come up to me at lunch and say, and I quote, "I'm coming over right after school, I'm driving you home, I'll text you-"

"That's not exact quoting" Harry grumbled with his arms crossed, Lottie just rolled her eyes and continued talking,

"And then he had me and Fizz meet him at his locker and he walked us to his car"

"And so... That tells your peers that you two are dating?"

"Yes! I've already had 10 people ask me today!"

"Why though?" Louis was so confused.

"Why? Because he's Harry Styles, he doesn't go up to random girls at lunch to tell them he's going to their house. He doesn't tell people he'll text them. And he doesn't give people rides!"

"You're talking about him like he's all high and mighty and it's kinda making me uncomfortable"

"It's weird" Harry whined, retreating to Louis'side, burying his head in the nook of  Louis' neck. Aw, poor baby.

"He's popular! He is all high and mighty at school!"

"How am I popular? I don't do anything!" Harry cried, Louis' lifted his hand to pet the poor baby's soft hair.

"Because you're hot harry, that's all it takes. All the boys wanna be you, all the girls wanna be with you. Just the facts of high school Harry." Louis was pretty sure Lottie belonged in one of those over dramatic, cliché teen movies. Just then Lottie's phone went off. Her eyes scanned the screen and shoved the phone in Louis' face, Harry peeking at it through his hair.

_From Brenna:_  
 _Are u really dating Harry Styles?! OMG_

Louis was about to say something but her phone went off again, he grabbed it from Lottie and clicked on the new message

_From Mady:_  
 _Getting it on with Harry I hear? ;) ;) you go Lotts !_

He furrowed his eyebrows and scrunched his nose. "Ew, what the hell?" he handed Lottie back her phone and wrapped his other arm around Harry, holding the boy close to him in attempt to protect his little curly from the world. 

"Harry Styles is a big name at school. He's even got his own little fan club"

"I do?" Harry perked up

"Oh don't be ridiculous" Louis said, pulling Harry's head back into its previous position, on his shoulder. 

"It's still weird that people think I'm popular. I thought you had to have friends to be popular" Harry said

"Aw baby you do have friends" Louis gave his head a little pat

"Only three. You, Niall and Liam" Niall and Liam. Harry's talked about them before..

"Yeah. Niall Horan and Liam Payne. Jesus Harry, You're the perfect three guys. Liam the sensitive, sweet rugby player,  Niall the funny irish charmer and Harry the tall dark and handsome mysterious one" Lottie was waving her arms all around and Louis was just watching her with a raised eyebrow.

"Harry is definitely not "dark" or mysterious"

"But I'm handsome right?" Harry asked, popping his head up

"Shhhhhh" Louis shushed him and pet his head back down to its place. He could feel Harry smiling against his shoulder and that was the best part. "Lottie you're being a tad overdramatic"

"I'm actually not Lou" she argued

"Whatever, we're done here, shoo, run along, Harry has to make me some food" Louis waved a hand at Lottie who rolled her eyes, muttering something under her breath as she walked up the stairs.

"I have to make you food?" Harry straightened up and looked down at Louis with a raised brow.

"Uh yeah ya do. I'd starve without you don't ya know" And that's how Louis ended up sitting at the counter watching Harry cook. That's probably his favorite part of the whole process, not the food, watching Harry cook. His little housewife. He listened to Harry ramble on about how he should be wearing an apron and Louis made a mental note to buy him one. With flowers. Because flowery aprons look best on Harry.

Harry made Louis a simple grilled cheese, although Louis would argue that nothing Harry made was simple or plain. It was always, always extraordinary in the best way possible. Everything about Harry was extraordinary. Harry Styles was extraordinary.

They sat at the kitchen island, Louis munched on the delicious sandwich and watched Harry do his homework. He was smart, really smart and Louis would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous. Louis could tell whenever Harry was slightly stumped by a question; His eyebrows would furrow and he'd twist his lips to the side of his face and lightly tap the eraser of his pencil on his nose just three times. Louis would slowly drag his eyes away from Harry's face to glance at the question that had the green eyed boy puzzled. If he knew the answer, he'd babble out the answer with a mouth full of food earning himself a large grin from the boy that lingered for more than a moment. If not, he'd go back to watching Harry's face and wait for his little "eureka" moment,  His lips would untwist and spread into a wide smile and his eyes would do a little happy dance and he'd scribble out the answer.

When Harry was done with his work, they sat in the lounge with Doris in Harry's lap and Ernest in Louis', watching some baby show on TV. Louis turned his head towards Harry when his phone went off, the younger boy read the text he received and his lips turned down in a slight frown. For a moment, Louis was scared that the message had something to do with him and Lottie but Harry just looked at him, with a frown on his face and says he has to go home. Louis let out a long whine and a "do ya have too?" Harry nodded sadly.

"Maybe you could uh..." kiss you? Okay. "Come over..."

"Well now that would just be silly, I'd only have to leave shortly after arriving" Louis laughed lightly.

"No, I mean like... Sleep over..." Harry said, voice going a note lower, he blushed and looked down at the baby in his lap.

"U-uh, yes, yeah, sure" He stuttered out because the sleepover he had in mind was anything but innocent. "As long as its okay with Anne..." Harry was now sporting a small smile along with the blush on his cheeks.

"I'll call her now"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is in Louis' pov but I might need to post a chapter or two in Harry's, I don't want too but... I'll see what I can do..


	7. ---dont get too excited. oi. ---

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorrrryyyyyyy

Okay so basically, I'm sorry I haven't updated in over a month, I graduate high school in 98 days (WHAAAAAAATTTTT) so I'm kinda focusing on school atm and I'm also currently working on a Peter Pan Larry au along with my creative writing class I'm basically writing all the time - my teacher does this thing where she likes to overlap our assignments so thats fun - our next short story is about a love affair and you can bet your grandma Louis and Harry will star in that story so I'll most likely post it on here. 

aside from school I also just barely survived a week from hell and I'm so emotionally drained. I had a panic attack and my anxiety needs to chill and my friends are going through actual shit which no one should have to go through - basically two of my closest friends have wanted to kill themselves this past month - and I really want to try and be there for them.

with that being said, I am not abandoning this story - I still think about it all the time and come up with little scenes in my head during boring classes like college ecology - but I can't guarantee an update coming soon and I'm sorry for that. I will try to write more of this (i have like a quarter of the next chapter written) just please try to understand and don't hate me and leave or me and this story or anything 

thank you I love you all ,  
Naomi xx


	8. and Brownies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. *long sigh* march was a poop month. I was planning on working on this fic over spring break but then Zayn decided to do that thing and destroyed me and so march was just a long, bad month. But I finally got back into writing. Yipee! This is a short one and the next one will be too kind of... The next chapter will also be from Harrys pov so I'm pretty excited about that xx

At Harry's house, Louis came to the realization that he has never been upstairs at the Styles' household, he told this to Harry who jumped like a puppy with wide eyes, "Oh! Then you must come! Its a land of great adventures and treasures!" Louis threw his head back in laughter and followed Harry up the stairs. There were four doors, Harry stopped at the 3rd one on the left side, "Now, I must warn you, it may be messy. I haven't gotten the chance to clean it" Louis scoffed,

"It's impossible for you to be messy. I refuse to believe Harry Styles could inhabit a bedroom that compares in filth to mine"

"I never said it was that messy!" Harry laughed, "Its probably about as messy as your room is when its cleaned" 

"I would argue but its probably true" Louis shrugged, Harry laughed and opened the door. It was a pretty decent sized room, wood flooring, queen sized bed with a simple light blue comforter, a night stand and a desk in the corner near the window. The walls were empty, cream color, except the one behind his bed. It had a few posters, photographs and other little things taped and tacked to the wall. Louis' feet moved him closer to look at the wall of which he deemed, the Harry wall, because it expressed Harry. Elvis, The Beatles, the 1975, Arctic Monkeys, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, The Fray, The Script. "Good music taste mate" Louis noted

"Wow, I'm glad you finally noticed" Harry teased with a cute smile and Louis just waved a hand. "I've just got to use the toilet, I'll be right back" Harry spun around and went out the door. Louis gave the Harry wall another glance before moving over to his desk which wasn't messy, but it wasn't really neat either, it was more of a controlled clutter. Louis' eyes gazed over it, notebooks, books, laptop, nail polish, camera, journal. Louis' eyes widened and snapped back to the three little bottles of nail paint. Lilac, light blue and crimson. It came as a shock to Louis and he didn't really have time to react before Harry came back in. He must have seen what Louis was looking at because his face reddened and he started stuttering. "Thats um um G-Gemma's um" but it had already clicked in Louis' mind and honestly, it made a bit of sense. 

"Harry," he started with a soft voice, "its okay. Its okay if you like to paint your nails" 

"I -" his voice came out weak and his eyes looked a bit scared and lost

"Harry, honey, do you like to paint your nails?" Louis asked softly and Harry nodded hesitantly. 

"Y-yes... I only do it on weekends or... or when I'm all by myself... 's not a boy thing... I'd be called a girl and, and," His pretty green eyes started to well with tears and Louis rushed to his boy - /his/ boy? - cupping his cheek with one hand while the other softly skimmed up his face from his chin to his hair

"Shhh baby," he ran his fingers through Harry's soft hair, once, twice. "That's okay. There's nothing wrong with wanting to have pretty nails okay? Fuck gender norms" Louis pulled Harry's head down to his chest and pet his hair, stroking it softly and Harry wrapped his arms around Louis' waist. "If you want to paint your nails that's okay, you can" he kissed the top of Harry's head, "If you want to wear pretty dresses that's okay, you can" Louis gave his hair another kiss and held him close for a moment. "You okay love?" he whispered and the tall boy nodded but neither moved too much. "Would you like me to paint your nails?" he asked after another moment. Harry pulled away to look at Louis with wide eyes, lips just barely parted and Louis gave the tiniest of smiles to reassure Harry that he was being serious. Harry started nodding before he could even coherent words and Louis let out a small fond laugh as the boy rushed to say yes. Harry let Louis pick out the polish color, he chose the lilac and before he knew it they were sat criss-cross-apple sauce on the floor by Harry's bed. 

"Have you ever even painted nails before?" Harry giggle as Louis struggled to open the bottle. 

"Need I remind you I have five younger sisters" Louis smiled to himself when he finally got the bottle open. "Okay sugar plum, hand." sugar plum?

"Sugar plum?" Harry giggled with sunshine eyes and extended a hand to Louis as if he were Cinderella and Louis was his Prince Charming. Louis gently held the soft, big hand and resisted bringing it up to his lips. As Louis focused hard on Harry's pretty fingers, carefully painting them, he listened to Harry go on and on about all sorts of things and Louis absolutely loved it. 

Once he finished one hand, he softly blew on the lilac nails before moving to the next hand. Harry continued to talk his ears off, reading Facebook statuses off his phone aloud and voicing his opinions, Louis' also pretty sure harry took a picture but he didn't say anything. 

While waiting for his nails to dry, Louis helped Harry study, reading questions from a book for Harry to answer, that is, until of course Louis fell asleep. In his defense however, painting nails and reading is quite exhausting.


End file.
